Her voice is absolutely extraordinary. The higher her register, the stronger her tone, pouring out in a molten flow of shining beauty, always administered with iron control: nowhere is there a waver, a weak patch, or a telltale husky breath. Not that she's feeble singing in her boots: Ah! mio cor, from Handel's Alcina, is enough to prove that. She's so flexible too, almost double-jointed: some of her coloratura runs, leaping from nowhere, fast and agile, can knock you over with surprise. And it's not just Petibon's voice. It's also the dramatic impulse running alongside, pulsing and throbbing in step with every expression of sorrow or revenge in the texts. Her colours are nailed to the mast in the opening track from Sartorio's Cleopatra, in which she celebrates Cleopatra's seductive charms with whoops, deliberately flattened notes and a hot erotic whisper. Andrea Marcon's Venice Baroque Orchestra keeps up to speed with drums, castanets and massive foot-tapping élan. After that onslaught, timid listeners might start to quake. But Petibon and Marcon have the good sense to ration their wilder flings. Fast and slow numbers alternate. No theatre tricks impinge on Handel's Lascia ch'io pianga, the most famous aria on the disc, delivered with serious, moving simplicity, or Porpora¿s solemn Morte amara, from his long-forgotten opera Lucio Papirio. The uncovering of unfamiliar items is one of the recital's subsidiary joys. I feel better for meeting Sartorio's brazen Cleopatra, also Stradella¿s Salomé, who urges Herod to show "a little kindness" by slicing off John the Baptist's head. But the chief joy remains Petibon, dynamic and sensitive, siren-voiced. After this disc, I am her devoted slave.

Record Review /
Geoff Brown,
The Times (London) / 23. April 2010

It's simply not possible to listen to Patricia Petibon without gasping with admiration at her versatility, flexibility, musicality, virtuosity and sheer force of personality . . . Petibon has the ability to make this music so much part of her own persona that its antiquity is brushed aside in one extravagant sigh or inflexion of the voice . . . For many, the highlight of the disc will be Petibon's spell-binding account of "Lascia ch'io pianga", oozing self-restraint and aristocratic poise . . . delivered with such consummate grace and exquisite elegance, one wishes it would last even longer. As for those amazing vocal skills: there are the astonishing displays of breath control over extended runs . . . delivered with breathtaking delicacy and precision; the stunning top notes achieved effortlessly and produced with superlative purity and control . . . riveting and electrifying dramatic outbursts . . . This is nothing short of a vivid demonstration of dazzling vocal technique, musical insight and astonishing intuitive characterizations of some of the most potent soprano roles in all Baroque opera. As brilliant collaborators, the Venice Baroque Orchestra under the sensitive and alert direction of Andrea Marcon could hardly be bettered. The richness of the playing, the wonderful fluidity of the continuo work and the magical quality of the violins . . . is the perfect complement to a disc which, recorded with wonderfully opulent sound, is, if it were possible, even better than Patricia Petibon's previous recordings . . .

Record Review /
Marc Rochester,
International Record Review (London) / 01. May 2010

This French soprano wraps her agile voice around the highly ornamented arias of the Italian Baroque era with the ease and lightness of a butterfly . . . The gorgeous vocal work is well paired with the Venice Baroque Orchestra . . . under leader Andrea Marcon.

Record Review /
John Therauds,
Toronto Star / 17. May 2010

Her nimble, flutey soprano has now acquired warmer, more sensuous tints; and she brings a memorable and distinct vocal personality to each of these assorted heroes, heroines, victims and villains in extremis . . . [Andrea Marcon¿s] expert period band matches Petibon all the way in acuity and dramatic flair.

Record Review /
Richard Wigmore,
Gramophone (London) / 01. June 2010

Her voice is certainly suited to Baroque music . . . striking, beautiful and unusually versatile, its strength is its sensitivity . . . Petibon brings an extremity of character, sometimes willful eccentricity, to her performances . . .

Ms. Petibon often sings with spontaneous abandon, her voice rich in both its powerful top range and its mellower lower notes. She takes abundant liberties without sacrificing good taste. The Venice Baroque Orchestra, led by Andrea Marcon, adds to the tempest with fiery, sorrowful and impeccable playing . . . The beauty of Ms. Petibon¿s voice is highlighted in her poignant renditions of "Lascia ch'io pianga" from Handel¿s "Rinaldo", in which the strings mirror her despair, and "Piangerò la sorte mia" from Handel¿s "Giulio Cesare in Egitto". The purity of her straight tone in the opening of "Orfeo, tu dormi" from Sartorio¿s "Orfeo" is magical.

Record Review /
Vivien Schweitzer,
The New York Times / 19. August 2010

. . . Patricia Petibon, who offers ravishingly beautiful and unnervingly dramatic performances of arias by Handel, Vivaldi, Scarlatti and more, is an artist in a million. Her technical prowess is remarkable, her range astonishing, and her command of temperament and emotional transparency unforgettable . . . The disc announces its nonpareil approach from the opening selection -- a seductive shimmy for Cleopatra from Antonio Sartorio's 1676 opera "Guilio Cesare in Egitto" . . . Passagework comes fast and furious, and the instrumental accompaniment by Andrea Marcon and the Venice Baroque Orchestra introduces guitar and percussion to emphasize the music's popular roots. Once or twice Petibon flirts with true excess, as in an Expressionist account of "Se il mio dolor t'offende" from Scarlatti's "Griselda"; but then she dispatches a throaty, sumptuously lyrical phrase or a volley of coloratura fireworks, and there's nothing to do but listen slack-jawed in amazement.

Petibon is a sheer delight. You get a taste of her theatrical abilities on the opening track, "Quando voglio" . . . which finds the popular opera star in a charming and playfully seductive mood. She is no less captivating in the role of Salome in Stradella's 1675 ode to St. John the Baptist, "Queste lagrime e sospiri" . . . [an] excellent disc . . .

Record Review /
Greg Cahill,
Strings (San Rafael) / 01. November 2010

Ms. Petibon sings with spontaneous abandon, impressive coloratura and distinctive ornamentation. The Venice Baroque Orchestra, led by Andrea Marcon, adds to the tempest with vibrant playing.

Record Review /
Vivien Schweitzer,
The New York Times / 23. November 2010